Joss Whedon, Danny Boyle Headed To SXSW, Which WIll Close With Brit Marling's The East

Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling’s The East has been selected as the Closing Night film for the 2013 South By Southwest Film Festival, it was revealed today. The annual event also revealed a handful of new titles that finally complete this year’s Film Conference lineup, including screenings of Alicia Dwyer’s documentary Xmas Without China and James Ponsoldt’s Sundance hit, The Spectacular Now.

The East stars Marling (Another Earth) as a corporate spy tasked with infiltrating an environmental terrorism group known as The East. In her Sundance review, Katey called the movie “a small scale, welcome respite from the usual drone of Hollywood genre-- and yet another example of how Sundance breakout stars can get only better as their careers get bigger.”

In addition, SXSW today confirmed a number of high-profile panels, including a conversations with Danny Boyle – who will be bringing footage from his latest, Trance, to the fest – and Joss Whedon - who will join his cast and discuss the rigorous 12-day shoot of their modern-day Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Much Ado's.

This year’s SXSW Film Program will open on Friday, March 8, with the world premiere of Don Scardino’s The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, starring Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi and Olivia Wilde. The movie portion of SXSW runs through Saturday, March 16, and will include anticipated screenings of the Evil Dead remake, Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight, Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon’s Addiction.

The schedule, complete with both screening and conference dates and times, is now available at www.sxsw.com/film. Be sure to check back with us often during SXSW, as we’ll have multiple correspondents on the ground in Austin bringing you up-to-the-minute festival coverage. This year’s program is stacked with hard-hitting documentaries, challenging independents, thrilling Midnight horror entries and favorites from previous fests. Hope to see you there!